Our Big Move to Punta Gorda, FL: The Journey Begins to Our First Week

Our Visa Approval Decision:

It was a Wednesday evening in February 2023, the 15th and we were at home discussing the previous weeks and months efforts in gathering all the additional information (RFE) 'Request for Evidence' that we had submitted to our immigration lawyer to send to USCIS (The United States Customs and Immigration) to support our visa application. 

To say the Visa process was tiring is an understatement, from September 2022 through to filing our original L1 and L2 applications in December 2022, we spent in the region of 60 hours collating, researching and preparing our application with the awesome support of Hugo Rojas and Francesca Nolasco from BAL.com.

When we heard back from the USCIS in January, despite paying for premium processing which we highly recommend to get through the evaluation quickly, they came back and asked for what felt like a tonne more information.
 
Somewhat disheartened, we put the hours in (another 23 hours) and submitted back that  second week of February.

Mentally exhausted with it all we put it to the back of our minds and expected a two week evaluation and decision.

Literally 48 hours later my gmail inboxed pinged, it was 8.37pm UK time, the title of the email was XXXXXXX0322 - Approved!  

The first line of the email from Francesca read

'Hello Mike, 

I am happy to inform you that your L-1 visa was approved! Please see below email notification from USCIS.'

Literally the relief was unbelievable, we emailed back and over the next 24 hours we completed our forms and we were booked into the US Embassy in London the following Thursday for our interview. 

Of course the process to get the L1 VISA was significant, this purely provides a summary overview up to the decision, I'll write more about obtaining an L1 and L2 Visa in a future post. 

Preparing for the Big Move:

Until that point, and even though we had bought our condo and it was partially built as a new construction home, it never felt real that we were actually going. 

Buying the condo, well, that's another blog and I will write about that process too in future, but without the Visa, the best it would have become would have been a holiday home, the worst it would have become is an investment into our property portfolio.

While attractive financially, our dream would have been over and we would have become landlords to the thousands of people who flood as snowbirds into SouthWest Florida each year looking for the tranquillity and lifestyle we were so desperately looking to enjoy ourselves. 

So with Visa approval in hand, pending a trip to the US Embassy, the plan came to life, and as we had already downsized from Plum Tree Farm, there were still lots to decide.

• Deciding what to keep, sell, or donate
• Handling the paperwork and logistics
• Arranging shipping personal belongings
• Arranging pet relocation

Slowly we checked off each task, built in our agencies click up project management system, we had tasks for the UK side 'pre departure tasks' and post arrival USA tasks, geeky I know but we wanted to be super organized and ensuring we didn't slip up on a technicality or miss something we could not complete over in the States.

Travelling to Florida:

We decided that having six suitcases and a travel golf bag, two rucksacks that we would take on a direct flight, less risk of baggage loss and direct means we were flying from London Heathrow to Tampa in just under 10 hours. 

Virgin Atlantic were superb in helping us with extra baggage and in the end we upgraded at a heavy discount to Premium, gaining two extra checked luggage bags so we only had the golf bag as extra luggage to pay for and we had the stress free extra benefits the airline upgrade provided.  

The difficult part was saying emotional farewells to our kids, Jamie and Ellie - both had travelled from Yorkshire to London Heathrow, I cannot stress how difficult that was, that moment.

As a family of four, we are close, we live breathe and help each other a lot, we are all codependent on each other in some ways and we didn't discuss how we would feel in the car on the way down to Heathrow.

There were nervous moments in the airport, we avoided discussing the inevitable that was coming as we checked in, then as we moved to the security area and then thats it, the time had come....we were going to go into the security line, and the kids were driving back to Yorkshire, we will not see them for at least six months.

As grown adults, there were plenty of tears, feelings of selfishness from Katie and myself, we brought our kids up to thrive, be independent, but not to lose their mum and dad because our dream is to relocate half way round the world - but the decision was made, after several embraces, tears streaming a plenty, we let go of each other and said our goodbyes.

Hardest thing we have done, its right up there in the top 1 for sure.....do not underestimate the emotional heart strings that will pull and taunt you, equally don't let it stop you reaching your dreams either. 

We facetime each other everyday, we are good and I feel the kids will grow more with Katie and myself not in their way in some ways. 

Through security we headed straight for a safe place, I personally needed a quiet space, not the hustle and bustle of Heathrow Terminal 3.

Thank you American Express Centurion Lounge inside the terminal, they took care of us and we refreshed, ate and drank coffee and tea, our last on UK soil.

Arriving in Florida:

We must have travelled to the states twenty+ times, on work and holiday, always an experience at Homeland Security, finger print, photos and questions about your visit.  

We knew it would be different this time, no ESTAs completed, this time we were the 'REAL DEAL' proudly affixed in our passports after our US Embassy visit was our L1 and L2 visas.

We approached the cubicle and usual first question came through the glass as we presented our passports.

"What brings you to the US?"

I reply 'work', and the officer states - 

'Are you coming for a meeting or a conference?' 

Slightly bullish I retort with 'No, i'm here initially for a year growing our new Office in Fort Myers'

The officer shuffles through the passport and says 'there you go!'  As he thumbs his way and finds the L1 and L2 visas, my breath somewhat held I'm thinking here goes - we are now going to get asked everything. 

We were prepared, we had every document from our visa application process, including the hard copy 245 page printed application and supporting documents.

We were taking no chances and we had the lot with us, and it weighed heavy in my rucksack.

However - the officer asked us both individually to just look at the camera, he snapped away, shuffled the passports together and said 'welcome to the US and enjoy your evening'.

Image Credit https://twitter.com/HSITampa

That was it, the fastest we've ever cleared Homeland Security and it felt good. No stamps, no finger prints although we had endured all that in the London Embassy two months earlier.

We collected our luggage that came out straight away with no waiting, as part of the premium upgrade with Virgin and we collected our rental car and headed off to the Holiday Inn Express hotel for the night as we decided to stay in Tampa with us arriving past 9pm, instead we chose to drive to Punta Gorda the next day.

Arriving in Punta Gorda, Heritage Landing:

The drive from Tampa to Punta Gorda is somewhat picturesque in many places, down the I275 out of Tampa and over the bridge into St Petersburg. 

Then onward to the I75 past Sarasota and into Port Charlotte, eventually arriving into our new community inside Heritage Landing in Punta Gorda. 

In just 1 hour 55 minutes, we had arrived!

This area is where we plan to spend the rest of our lives, a huge moment, years in the making!

Building a new construction home is challenging in the US.... we have encountered months of delays, false starts and natural disasters including Hurricane Ian.

It is not like buying a new home in the UK... completion dates (or closing date as they call it in the US), are somewhat variable, lack any conviction to be achieved and they will be when they will be, unless the builders year or quarter financial end is in play then they will push you hard to close before that financial period ends. 

Our choice was not to wait any longer for our condo to be finished than we had to, although our own Condo a DeAngello II model built by Lennar is still not complete, (see image above), we should be possibly, definitely maybe end of May 2023 have our close date, or end of June, July etc - you get the picture (it will be when it will be), so we decided to rent the same model condo in the same community allowing us to be on site as our home enters its final build and completion stage.

Renting in SouthWest Florida is expensive, be aware if you plan to rent.

We were lucky, we managed to be 4 blocks away in the same community as we have purchased and Neeta the host was awesome and the transition was smooth, from getting into the gated community to accessing the door codes and getting ID cards, she did everything for us and for that we were thankful.

While we are currently only a guest at Heritage Landing, its exciting to know we will soon be owners.

Our thoughts were if we are living in the same condo, with the same rooms, appliances etc, we will be ready to move in fast once the builder says we are ready to close.

It also allows us to measure, shop for furniture and become accustomed to our new environment, which by the way is awesome here at Heritage Landing.

Our First Week:
Like any new environment, there is so much to do, the week has been broken into a wide range of social and work tasks.

The biggest challenge is recognition and adoption, by that I mean recognising where we are and what's needed to live successfully and safely, after all we are in South West Florida - or Alligator Country.... our condo backs onto a lake and we have Apex predators 20 feet from our back condo door living in the lake we overlook. 

Take a look at this short video below of the Gator in our back lake!

For some that may be scary, it's just a way of life here and we had already done plenty of research and it was a relief to see our first gator, we named it Kaz... don't ask why, we just did after an ex work colleague of Katies!

Visiting the supermarkets, working out what brands are similar and that cute smirk I see on Katies face when she finds something that's the same as home, like Barilla pasta and Yorkshire tea! (thank you Publix for stocking that for Katie) You are life savers!

Other disciplines were scheduling appointments with the social security office in Fort Myers to gain our Social Security Number, shopping for a new vehicle (thanks to Engel at Gettel GMC and Chrysler Jeep In Punta Gorda for the amazing deals and choice) - we haven't decided whether we go GMC or Jeep yet, we will keep you posted as our search for a SUV continues through our first month.

Being part of the community is key, we met a delightful couple who are renting in the same block as we are while they too build their own coach home here in Heritage Landing.

John and Shelley are all the way from Minnesota, a great couple and we are looking forward to socializing more with them as we settle in, plus building plenty more relationships and overall we have been totally welcomed by everyone we have met.

With the weekend upon us at the end of our first week, we truly wanted to ensure we started to live the Florida Life, a visit to Tiki bar pool, 10 lengths and 250 metres in the tank starts our fitness program, enjoying the sun are all small steps, but swimming in the resort style pool in 85 degrees is exactly why we chose this state and community.

At the end of the first week, we visited an amazing furniture store called Coastal Furniture in Port Charlotte, we spent three hours with Helen and Denise finalising our condo decorating themes, fabrics, furniture and excited to be creating the coastal look in our new condo once we close.  

We planned originally to ship our own furniture from the UK, but when you look at the condos, the environment we decided that we would stay in SouthWest Florida style from top to bottom and choose a coastal theme, we love it. 

So thats a wrap, our post Visa approval to arriving and our first week, check out our next blogs coming soon where we will be sharing more of our relocation experience. 

Join Us on Our Adventure:

Join us as we share our experiences, answer questions, and form new friendships along the way both online, and in the amazing Heritage Landing Community, Punta Gorda and the wider SouthWest Florida region.

We hope to inspire and guide others who dream of embarking on a similar path, whether in Florida or elsewhere in the US.

Subscribe to our blog and please feel free to leave a comment or ask us a question, and join us as we begin this exciting new chapter in our lives.

Warmest regards,
Katie and Mike Midgley

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